(August 1, 2014) On the fourth anniversary of it first becoming binding international law, campaigners will today urge every country in the world to join the international treaty banning cluster bombs.

The call comes just days after the second anniversary of the start of ongoing use of cluster munitions against civilians in Syria, in July 2012.

Geneva, 27 June 2014 – New offers of resettlement or humanitarian admissions for Syrian refugees were today pledged by Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland and Uruguay. In all, 565 new places were announced during a high-level meeting of 42 countries, taking the total number of offers received since mid-2013 to more than 34,700 places. In addition, the United States has pledged open-ended resettlement numbers.

Refugee resettlement is in the news. At a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last month, speakers from both ends of the political spectrum called on the country to admit some of the 2.3 million Syrians who have become refugees. “While the United States has led the world in resettling and providing humanitarian assistance to refugees from conflicts around the globe, we’ve not done enough to address the current Syrian crisis,” said Senator Dick Durbin.

10/01/2014 - Does one size fit all when providing humanitarian assistance after a disaster? The dangers faced by children, women, men, the elderly and those with disabilities can be very different which is why our new toolkit, the Gender and Age marker, will better target humanitarian responses to different groups. Watch our video or see the website for more details.

28 August 2013 – As the latest escalation in Syria “has raised the spectre of chemical warfare,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged members of the Security Council to explore all diplomatic options to bring all Syrian parties to the negotiating table, stressing there is no military solution to the crisis.

“We must pursue all avenues to get the parties to the negotiating table,” Mr. Ban said in his remarks at a ceremony marking the centennial of the Peace Palace in The Hague

The Ministry of Health in Syria has, recently, established an early warning system for disease outbreaks with support from the WHO Country Office in Syria. A weekly surveillance bulletin is also being produced as part of this early warning system.

An overwhelming majority of Iraqi refugees
91.6% of refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Syria are from Iraq. The Government of Syria, which has continuously implemented a generous policy towards the stay of Iraqi refugees, estimates that the country hosts about one million Iraqis. 64.6% come from the region of Baghdad alone and 62.4% sought refuge in Syria five or more years ago. 35% of the 27,681 families registered are female-headed households.

The General Assembly today adopted 63 resolutions and 9 decisions recommended by its Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural), including a text that strongly condemned “continued grave and systematic” human rights violations in Syria and called for an immediate end to all violence in that country.

Anti-regime protests continued across Syria despite increased crackdowns on the major flashpoint cities. Security forces, including tanks, snipers and navy gunboats were mobilised against protests in Latakia, Daraa, Damascus, Homs, Deir el-Zour and elsewhere. Over two thousand deaths have been reported since the unrest erupted in mid-March.